Archives for the month of: February, 2016
« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

Laura Chapman: How Bill Gates is Taking Control of Teacher Education

By dianeravitch
February 12, 2016 //
23

Laura Chapman, reired arts educator, writes here with extensive documentation, about the Gates Foundation’s audacious effort to control teacher education.

Beware, Massachusetts! Gates has already planted its flag on 71 providers of teacher education.

Laura writes:

“I have been looking at all five of the Gates “Teacher Transformation Grants,” each for 33 months and just shy of $4 million for each grantee. All of the press releases are filled with jargon about “elevating” the teaching profession. The interlocking networks and complementary funding by other foundations of these new Gates investments is amazing.

“In October 2015 the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education received a 33 month grant for $3,928,656 from the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation to support the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (ESE) “teacher transformation” effort: The Elevate Preparation: Impact Children (EPIC) center. This is an addition to a separate Gates grant in October 2015, $ 300,000, “to launch, execute, and utilize implementation data collection at the state-level.”

“On other blogs, I have commented on this takeover of 71 “providers” of teacher education in Massachusetts, where a large administrative unit in the state department of education is functioning as one of Gates Foundation’s Teacher Preparation Transformation Centers.

“Why Massachusetts? Massachusetts has already imposed industrial strength surveillance systems on teacher prep programs. The Gates grant will complete the so-called “EPIC System” including tracking the “performance outcomes” of graduates of 71 teacher prep programs insofar as their graduates are employed by the state. Among the measures of performance (in addition to those already required in the state) are surveys of employers, parents, students, and all of the candidates who have become teachers—tracked for a minimum of three years.

“In addition, Massachusetts and six other states are part of the Network for Transforming Educator Preparation (NTEP), with a focus on teacher licensure, program approval, and data systems—an initiative of the Council of Chief State School Officers. The CCSSO is so dependent of the Gates Foundation for operating support is should be regarded as one of many subsidiary operations of the Foundation.”

Gates is relentless. He is like a madman with a laboratory who won’t give up on his project to control teachers. He has said repeatedly that “we” know how to create great teachers. He believes that if everyone did what he wants, every teacher would be in the top quartile.

VAM failed. But he is moving on now to teacher education.

He never learns. He ruins other people’s lives, tries to destroy an entire profession, and expects the world to thank him.

Categories Gates Foundation, Bill Gates, Teacher Education

Great News! Voucher Bill stalls in Tennessee

By dianeravitch
February 12, 2016 //
11

The Tennessee legislature did not take up the voucher proposal because the sponsor realized it didn’t have the votes to pass.
Initially he wanted statewide vouchers but rural legislators were not interested. Then he narrowed it to four counties with urban districts. Then he narrowed it only to Shelby County, that is, Memphis. The sponsor, a conservative Republican, wanted (of course) to save poor kids in failing schools. 
But many legislators were dubious that vouchers actually work. There is plenty of evidence they don’t. So the bill was shelved for another day. 
We can hope that day never arrives. 
Congratulations to the BATS, the Momma Bears, the Tennessee Education Association, and other fighters for public education!

Categories Education Reform

Why David Gergen Thinks Young People Want Charter Schools

By dianeravitch
February 11, 2016 //
23

Last night, I was astonished when I saw David Gergen on CNN saying that young people aren’t voting for Hillary because she criticized charter schools. He said she did it to please the teachers unions. As we know, her criticism was true: charter schools don’t accept all kinds of students and she never repeated it. 
On the other hand, Bernie has opposed charter schools. Why would Gergen think that young people would prefer Sanders to Clinton over charter schools? Which young people has he been talking to? 
Now we know. Several readers pointed out that David Gergen is on the national board of TFA. Does this mean that TFA supports Bernie, who opposes charters, and abandoned Hillary because she mildly criticized them? No, it makes no sense to me either. Just another warning to Hillary never to say bad things about charters, ever. 

Categories Education Reform

Los Angeles: Charter Schools Whine About Their Victories

By dianeravitch
February 11, 2016 //
31

Howard Blume of the Los Angeles Times reports on a controversial decision to grant a renewal to a charter school owned by one of the elected board members, even though the charter division of the school district said its performance was so poor that it did not deserve renewal. The owner of the charter, Ref Rodriguez, recused himself from the vote. As usual, the room was packed with charter students and staff, demanding renewal of a failing school, and they won.

 

There are more charters in Los Angeles than in any other district, and an independent panel of experts recently warned that charter growth could threaten the solvency of L.A. Unified.

 

Most charters are non-union, and charter critics include unions. They say that charters serve fewer students who are more challenging and expensive to educate.

 

Charter advocates include well-heeled foundations and donors, who say continued, rapid charter expansion will improve the education system.
The big charter winner on Tuesday was Partnerships to Uplift Communities, more commonly known as PUC Schools.

 

PUC overcame the opposition of the charter division, which said its standard review showed that, based on academic performance, PUC’s Excel Charter Academy fell far short of deserving a five-year extension.

 

Excel supporters — about 140 packed the board room and waited until well after dark to be heard — put forward other statistics that painted a better picture of the middle school in Lincoln Heights.

 

They also presented testimonials from students, parents, teachers and administrators. Such presentations have become a regular and lengthy ritual when the fate of a charter comes before the school board.

 

 

Meanwhile, the members of United Teachers of Los Angeles voted to increase their union dues to fight the billionaire-funded effort to gobble up more and more public schools and turn them into non-union charters.

 

 

Sarah Angel, a spokesperson for the California Charter School Association, criticized the union for amassing a “war chest” to fight back against the charter invasion. She said the union was being divisive.

 

She said:

 

“UTLA is going to amass the war chest that they feel that they need,” said the California Charter Schools Association’s Sarah Angel. “But I think all of us in public education: moms, dads, teachers, principals, and board members need to be focused on the number one priority which is educating kids and how we do that better, how do we improve outcomes, raise children out of poverty, get them to graduation, college, and career. That needs to be our number one focus, not raising money, not fighting each other.”

 

In other words, don’t fight the charter takeover of public schools. Let them privatize half the district, the entire district. Don’t resist. I recall that when I wrote an op ed for the LA Times supporting public schools, it was the same Sarah Angel who called me “divisive.” It seems the only way to be a uniter is to support Eli Broad’s program of privatization.

 

 

Categories Charter Schools, Los Angeles

Irving Hamer: Education Without the Arts Is Not Education

By dianeravitch
February 11, 2016 //
13

Irving Hamer, who has had a long and storied career in urban school districts, has started a blog to describe what he has learned over the course of his years in the schools.

 

One thing he learned is that education is impossible without the arts.

 

Schools must be filled with the artwork of great artists and student artists. Music must ring out and fill the students’ and teachers’ ears. Dancing would curb the obesity crisis. Schooling without the arts is not education; it may be basic skills, it may be testing, but it is not education.

Categories Arts Education, Real Education

EduShyster: UP Academy Wins Federal Grant to Replicate Regimentation of Students

By dianeravitch
February 11, 2016 //
19

EduShyster has a guest column by a teacher who recently finished teaching at UP Academy in Lawrence, Massachusetts. The UP network has five schools. They are not charter schools, though their authoritarian practices appear to be modeled on “no excuses” charter schools. They are zoned 6-8 public middle schools. The schools get high test scores, and the US Department of Education recently awarded them $4.3 million to replicate. Its disciplinary polices are harsh and unforgiving. While the schools get high test scores, shouldn’t we wait and see what other results follow from such schools before paying taxpayer dollars to get more of them? I would never let my children or grandchildren go to such a soulless school, but that’s just me. In the case of UP academies, parents don’t have a choice.

 

 

I was hired to teach at UP Academy in Lawrence, MA starting in August of 2014. Everyone on staff had a duty and mine was to stand in the girl’s bathroom and make sure that the students were leaving quickly and that they only used two pumps of soap and took two paper towels. If they used more I was supposed to give them a demerit. Everything is timed, and teachers walk around with timers. Kids are timed when they go to the bathroom and when they have their snack so that they aren’t wasting valuable learning time. At orientation, which lasted a month before the start of schools, we spent an entire day on how to pass papers and how to get the students to compete against each other as they did this.
When it comes to math and English, UP Academy is teaching a lot, but there’s no emphasis on anything else. Students get social studies and science for half a year; PE and art are considered *specials* and students only get them for an hour a week. The only time students leave their classrooms is when they’re going to PE, art or lunch. After sitting all day, they have to line up in single file in total silence, not making a single peep, hands behind their backs, everything tucked in—like perfect soldiers. I’d have to transport them to my classroom, giving them merits and demerits along the way.

 

There were fifteen minutes total for the the entire class to go to the bathroom. This was twice a day, in the morning and later in the afternoon. There was an average of 32 kids in the class and when we called their names, they would indicate whether they had to go to the bathroom or not by saying *yes, thank you* or *no, thank you.* You’d start from the top of the list in the morning and those people would go to the bathroom. In the afternoon, names would get called from the bottom up. If students didn’t get called, they couldn’t use the bathroom. Students have two emergency bathroom passes they can use during the semester. If they use them up they get a detention.

 

There is more to read. Frankly, I find this bordering on child abuse. This is the kind of school that superior people design for other people’s children, not their own.

 

 

Categories Charter Schools, Discipline, Education Reform, Massachusetts

US Department of Education Endorses “Pay for Success” Bonds for Pre-K Special Education

By dianeravitch
February 11, 2016 //
26

I have written before about the controversial program called “Pay for Success.” This is also known as “social impact bonds.” Recently, two officials at the US Department of Education and the White House wrote an opinion piece in the Salt Lake Tribune applauding the use of “pay for success” to expand pre-kindergarten programs.

 

What is “pay for success” and what are “social impact bonds?” As blogger Fred Klonsky explains:

 

Pay for Success is a social impact bond (SIB) that pays Wall Street investors like Goldman Sachs a bounty for every child that does not receive special education support.

 

Pay for Success is nothing less than a push-out program that then pays the bond investor a bonus for every child that is pushed out of special ed services.

 

Special education advocate Beverley Holden Johns sent me this comment on the administration’s endorsement of “pay for success”:

 
In my opinion this is a new low for USDOE. Uncritically mentioning that
only one student in the PFS group was identified for special education,
justifying these absurd results by stating it will be a bumpy road, completely
failing to stress that only very high quality pre-school produces results –
failing to point to the very substantial questions about the quality of PFS in Utah,
not stating that Goldman Sachs has ALREADY BEEN PAID over $260,000 as its
first payment, and by saying USDOE is excited by Pay for Success in ESSA is irresponsible.

 
Bev Johns

 

 

Categories Childhood, Pre-K, K, Education Reform, Obama, Special Education, U.S. Department of Education, Utah

Seattle Parent: Emails Show How the Gates Machine Works

By dianeravitch
February 11, 2016 //
17

Dora Taylor, a parent leader in Seattle, has written a post about how the Gates machine has stepped up to protect the state’s fledgling charter schools that are not currently eligible to receive public funding. The highest state court in Washington state ruled that charter schools are not public schools, and of course the Gates team is working the legislature to do an end run around the court’s decision.

 

But as Taylor explains, the Gates team has quietly set up a deal where a small rural school district is paid to supervise the charter schools and keep them alive while Gates and company works the legislature.

 

This is how it went. The Gates Foundation, contacted the Washington Charter Association and had them contact the Mary Walker School District to discuss with the Superintendent, Kevin Jacka, the idea of taking on the charter schools that had opened in the state and placing them under the umbrella of the Alternative Learning Experience program (ALE).

 

The Mary Walker School District is located in Springdale, Washington, which is a rural community in the northeast corner of Washington State. The district consists of eight traditional and Alternative Learning Experience (ALE) schools.

 

The plan was to have the Mary Walker School District provide oversight for the charter schools scattered around the state and receive a percentage of the per student state allocation before sending the money onto the charter school therefore providing tax dollars to the charter schools.

 

According to the contract between the Mary Walker School District and Rainier Prepcharter school, the Mary Walker School District will receive 4% of the per student state allocation of approximately $6,000 per student and the remaining 96% will go to the charter school.

 

You see, when you are the richest man in the country, you don’t give up. You win. Unless the courts and the legislature intervene to protect public education. If Bill Gates wanted to give the charter students an education (there are fewer than 1,000 of them), he could open private schools for them at less cost than he is spending to lobby the state. But he wants to establish the principal that privately managed schools should get public funding, even though the public has nothing to say about how they are run.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Gates Foundation, Bill Gates, Privatization, Washington State

An Important New Film: “KILLING ED”

By dianeravitch
February 11, 2016 //
11

Mark Hall is a gifted documentarian who has produced an important film titled “Killing Ed.” He tells the story that most of us know but the general public does not, about the slow strangulation of public education by special interests. He focuses on a battle for control of the schools in Austin, then generalizes the story to explain the march of privatization, facilitated by  big money. 
Mark Hall does something that other film-makers have avoided: he explores the secretive network of Gulen charter schools, possibly the largest charter chain in the nation, associated with a reclusive Turkish imam.
The trailer for KILLING ED is here: https://vimeo.com/152654863

 

The film contains interviews with me, Noel Hammatt in Louisiana, Sharon Higgins in Oakland, and many others. The story starts out with public school supporters in Austin who are working to win two school board seats in order to fight off a non-Gulen connected charter. The perils of school privatization are introduced, with a deep dive into the Gulen situation as the most egregious abuse. The arc then returns to the local people in Austin who end up victorious, the film delivering the message that the public needs to get involved.

 

Mark has held several preview screenings (private and semi-private) in recent months, but now that the film is 100% complete he is beginning to schedule formal screenings at theaters and for interested groups. Publicists are providing assistance.
If you live in the New York City area, Mark will have a one-week run at Cinema Village in Greenwich Village, with the premier on Friday, March 25th. 

More about Mark Hall’s other work: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3153222/?ref_=tt_ov_dr

Categories Charter Schools, Corporate Reform, Education Reform

Tennessee: Voucher Bill May Come to a Vote

By dianeravitch
February 11, 2016 //
14

Conservative Republicans have been eager to bring vouchers to Tennessee but they have gotten significant pushback from rural legislators, who don’t want vouchers to destroy their local public schools.

 

So the sponsor of the voucher legislation has scaled back his bill to make it vouchers for Shelby County only, that is, Memphis.

 

As usual, the most extreme of the Republicans, who never cared a fig about poor children before, are eager to help poor kids “escape” from failing public schools and go to religious schools where they can study creationism.

The BATS and the Momma Bears are fighting this bad legislation.

 

Do you think they know or care that vouchers haven’t provided better education anywhere? The first evaluation of the new Louisiana voucher program came out recently and reported that children in the voucher program lost ground during their first year. They were not saved.

Categories Education Reform, Tennessee, Vouchers
« Older Entries
Newer Entries »